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Publication of the Order on environmental authorisation

17 February 2017

Client Alert | France | Public Law & Environment

Order no. 2017-80 of 26 January 2017 on the environmental authorisation and its two by-laws (decree no. 2017-81 and no. 2017-82 of 26 January 2017) were published in the Official Journal of 27 January 2017.

After a trial period, deemed satisfactory, for the project certificate, the single authorisation for facilities, structures, works and activities (collectively known as “IOTA” in French) governed by water legislation, and the single authorisation for facilities classified for environmental protection (“ICPE” in French), the French Ministry of the Environment decided to continue these measures by establishing a single environmental authorisation that integrates the project certificate.

This authorisation is governed by the new articles L. 181-1 to L. 181-31 of the “Code de l’environnement” (French Environmental Code), and concerns all IOTA and ICPE that are subject to authorisation, as well as projects subject to environmental impact studies but that are not governed by an authorisation regime that sets avoidance, reduction and compensation measures as to a project’s negative impacts.

The environmental authorisation replaces a dozen decisions governed by the “Code de l’environnement” (French Environmental Code), the “Code forestier” (French Forestry Code) and the “Code de l’énergie” (French Energy Code), which are now merged under a single authorisation and instructed by a single administrative department.